Has your world turned upside down, of late? Looks like the whole world has turned upside down. Yesterday itself, three people that I respect deeply – personally and professionally – passed away succumbing to Covid or post Corona Viral Disease complications in short! I was able to feel the numbing sadness within me throughout the day, but without too much of a breakdown that would have made me a little paranoid instead of making me relieved that we are close to being rid of the pandemic!

That brings me to the main topic of my discussion for the moment: ME! When I say that the key is ME, I also tell myself that the ME in this case stands for Mental Energy! I am in fact, my mental energy. I am what I feel. I may be right but if I feel that I am wrong, I look like I lack confidence in myself even when I am right. Conversely I could convince a lot of people and fool them by looking slickly confident even when i am wrong in my facts or feelings. So, what I feel about losing dear friends abruptly and alarmingly, despairing about the economy, worrying about safety, panicking about the future are all mere feelings that sway my personality like a pendulum from happy to snappy, good to bad, glad to sad….. 

 This may be because the mind we develop as a child begins to feel first by the age of two or three years. Then, with development of the brain by the age of five or six comes logical thinking which tells you what is right and wrong by which time, your mind has already developed a lot of moods and reactions to food, people and events and in short,  to everything around. If we are made to look at the brighter side of situations, we develop a ‘Happy Child Syndrome’ which later helps us all our lives to look at the Sunny Side or for the silver lining in every cloud. The opposite too is true, unfortunately. My mental energy creates doubts that destroy me or instead they can create so much more self-confidence in terms of strength to face more adversity. “Bring them on” seems to be the attitude of those lucky few who revel in the discovery of greater strength by facing more such tough situations. Christiano Ronaldo or the iconic CR7 as he is called ironically grew into a legendary artist in kicking a football by converting a confused childhood watching and wanting to get close to a father he only knew as a frustrated alcoholic incoherent and dysfunctional. So much so that he has never touched a drop of liquor in his life. Yet, how beautifully he converted that mental energy of a helpless infant who couldn’t understand what was missing in his life into a glorious self discovery of his own potential to perform on the global level as am all-time great of our times.

I myself feel this paradox even when i am complimented genuinely. Recently somebody was generous enough to say “You have a way with words, Keshav!”

So, why do I have so much doubt about the words I use when others are clapping in saying wow, that is a beautiful way to talk. It all comes down to ME: my Mental Energy. I choose to interpret it as not genuine enough to believe in my own strengths. I feel that the Vedic truth “Yatha Drishti, Tatha Shrishti” is what decides how we interpret all the news and views we receive from the world. As you view, so your world is! We create the world we live in and each of us has a different world to experience and express ourselves in.

I can say a polite and genuine “Thank you” to the person who conveys such appreciation by using it to reinforce my confidence in my abilities and move forward.  That would be the best way for me to handle ME – my mental energy. Goodness, Gracious ME! That’s also the title of a hilarious old song featuring the sultry Sophia Loren of Hollywood and the irrepressible British comic Peter Sellers….. catch it on YouTube if you like a funny moment to laugh at ourselves.